HOUSTON - We hearing from the parents of a Houston journalist and former Marine who disappeared five years ago this month. Austin Tice was captured in Syria, but his family has never lost hope that he’s alive.

“No doubt,” says Tice’s mother Debra.

Her husband Marc echoes that, saying, “Yeah, no doubt. And it's not just us. That's not just parental wishes. That's the assessment of everybody involved in his situation.”

A Georgetown graduate, Marine Corps captain and award-winning journalist, Tice went missing in Syria on Aug. 14, 2012. He was in the country to cover the civil war there.

One of his last messages came on Aug. 11 five years ago to a friend. He wrote, "I'm outside Damascus — government is jamming the Internet for most of the day. Today's my birthday. I had a pool party with the (rebels). No joke."

Since then, there have been more questions than answers. A video allegedly of a blindfolded Tice with his captors surfaced in September 2012, but no ransom demand was ever made.